"You’re The Top" Tuna Salad

Dave is a fan of my homemade mayo, but he confessed a few days ago that since his Whole30, the idea of tuna salad left him cold.

“I miss the sweet pickle relish,” he said, oh-so-sadly.

Which got me thinking: is there a healthy way to make tuna salad with a touch of sweetness and crunch?

And then I remembered the Waldorf salad.

When we made Waldorf Salad in sixth-grade home ec class, I declined to eat it. The concoction was created at the Waldorf Hotel (later to be the Waldorf-Astoria) in New York in the 1890s. To my 8-year- old mind, the original Waldorf salad sounded both gross (apples and mayo?!) and romantic (a glittery hotel in Manhattan!). But now, I appreciate its elegance, its short preparation time, and the contrast of crisp apples and tangy mayo.

Waldorf salad appeared in a cookbook in 1928, and it was so popular, it was featured in Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top” from the musical Anything Goes.

You’re the top!You’re a Waldorf salad.You’re the top!You’re a Berlin ballad.You’re the boats that glideOn the sleepy Zuider Zee,You’re an old Dutch master,You’re Lady Astor,You’re broccoli!

Directions:

Place apple, scallion tops, nuts, and parsley in a medium-sized bowl and mix with a fork.

2

Drain the liquid from the tuna and add the tuna to the bowl. Mash with a fork to break it up until no big chunks remain.

3

Add the mustard and mayo to the bowl and mix with a rubber spatula until blended. Try a bite, then add salt and pepper to adjust the seasonings. If you can stand it, let the tuna salad sit for 15 minutes so the flavors meld.

Comments

I make home-made chicken and tuna salad a lot. I like to add grapes to my chicken salad for the sweetness and apples to my tuna salad! Yummy! Haven't tried adding scallions yet but definitely will. Thanks!

This looks yummy! I thought the idea of mayo and apples were gross until I tried it a few years ago, for the same reasons you stated. I use the combo in chicken salad a lot, but I never thought about tuna. I'm fortunate to live close enough to the pacific coast where we can get tuna from the boat. Then we take it home and can it ourselves and now I'm spoiled. It's hard to eat tuna from the grocery store now. It's even good straight from the jar 🙂 But I LOVE LOVE LOVE me some tuna salad and I can't wait to try yours.

Yum! I love tuna these days…this looks delicious. I also appreciate the Cole Porter reference…I was once in a Cole Porter Revue at this really intense theatre camp…your lyrics bring back geeky memories.

I'm so glad y'all are excited about this recipe. I made a batch of mayo at, like, 9:30 last night, just so I could make tuna salad today. YUMMY!

Girl + Puppy –> Love the mods!

Ami Marie –> I use my grocery store brand of "light tasting" olive oil. You can't use extra-virgin… my recommendation is to buy the cheap0 kind and look for a label that says "light tasting" or "light flavor" — that means it won't taste too olive-y. If you can't make it work with olive oil, you can use a nut oil instead but they can be expensive.

For the longest time growing up I thought the only way you made tuna fish salad was with apple in it; as that was the way my Nany (Grama) made it. This was upuntil I was over at a friends house and his mother made it with put it. I was like sorry you forgot to put apple in it or are you out if so I can get a couple from my house. And that's how I found out not everyone put apple in their tuna fish sanwiches.

After all the praise for your mayo, how could I NOT want to try it?!?! That's on the list for this weekend. 🙂 What is the white accompanying veggie on the plate in your photo? Jicama? If so, do you cook it? I've been wanting to try it lately.

Thanks for the recipe, I am taking this to work for my lunch. I work in a cafe by the way, so having something delicious to eat while my co-workers are eating the typical Ecuadorian meal of Rice with potatoes, with less than a 1/4 cup of meat will be important.

just made this and the paleo mayo! Patience is the key. The tuna salad looks totally yummy – I’m letting it chill for a bit before I dig in but the sample I snuck was sooooo good. Thanks for the recipe.

What a great recipe! Had it tonight for dinner over some baby greens. I made it with your homemade mayo, which turned out wonderful too. Didn’t have light oil on hand so EVOO had to do. The flavor is a quite strong on olive oil, but as part of a dressing the flavor melds with other ingredients and vanishes. Thanks!

I thought I was the only one who used apples in tuna salad! I started using them a year ago, to add crunch (replacing onions, which ten to overpower). Works beautifully, either with homemade mayo or a lemon and oil dressing, and with lots of lemon juice in and fresh herbs like Italian parsley or cilantro. Fennel and cucumber also work really well, together or alone, and some finely diced jalapeno. Yum!

OMG! I just made this and it is unbelievable 🙂 At first I was scared to add the mustard because I have never experienced mustard on tuna so I just used half the amount and it was fabulous.

Also, I can’t thank you enough for the mayo recipe. I made it and it came out beautifully. I am starting my Whole30 today and was so dismayed to find that all commercially prepared mayo, even at Whole Foods, contains SOY OIL 🙁 Even the stuff that says “made with olive oil” contains all kinds of other crappy ingredients. This recipe is sublime 🙂

The biggest no-no in balsamic vinegar is sulfites. You want a brand that does not contain sulfites — other than that, you’re good to go — although organic is preferable over conventional, if you can swing the cost.

I usually put my lemon juice and egg in the blender for 30 minutes before making the mayo.

I use StarKist Selects solid light tuna in Extra Virgin Olive oil. The price difference is $1.29 per can for these in comparison to. 99 a can for regular StarKist. Oh and for the mayo its just 30 minute minimum but I usually leave mine out for at least an hour and so far all of ny batches have been great! Good luck, the first grocery trip is the worst and after that you kinda figure it out!

Thank you for this recipe. I made 1/2 of it for my lunch–and 1/2 of it is still left for tomorrow. I served it on a mountain of spinach. What a great little ditty of crunch and brightness on a wintery autumn day!

Mel,
I just wanted to say you are one of my heros! I just got your Well Fed cookbook a few weeks ago and I have really enjoyed all of the recipes I’ve made from it so far. I’m a “dino-chow” newbie and it has been overwhelming, but your advice, wisdom and suggestions on how to prepare in advance for the week have really helped me out tremendously. I enjoyed reading your adorable tales about you and your family.

Just got done making this tuna salad and it’s perfect! I threw in a chopped hard-boiled egg as well, simply because my father always put that in his tuna salad and its what I grew up with to enjoy in my tuna salads. 🙂 I look forward to trying the Tex Mex version next!

I recently picked up your Well Fed cookbook and I love it. It’s far more practical than a lot of the other ones I’ve come across (i feel like the “hot plates” idea is critical for Paleo success, an the recipes themselves are simple and delicious).

Anyway.

I managed to overcook 2lbs of salmon the other night and didn’t want it to go to waste, so I made this salad with it in place of tuna (i’m not crazy about tuna). The salmon really took it to the next level. Definitely rank this recipe very high on the NOMNOMNOM scale.

I made this tuna salad last week and took some to work for lunch. I get a text from hubby around 12:30 “Your tuna salad was amazing” I actually had to call him to make sure he wasn’t lying. He has never described anything I’ve made as amazing. I used dijon mustard, not sure if it changed flavor much. Also, love homemade mayo!

So because I have made this 3 or 4 times successfully in the last 30 days of my 1st Whole30, I decided to double the recipe. Epic fail! 🙂
I guess I just got the cockiness slapped out of me! haha
Love this new staple that I’ve added to my new way of eating. Especially love it as the Italian salad dressing.

I have made a ton of your recipes over the last 30 days, Melissa, and there has not been ONE that I didn’t absolutely love.

i missed the sweet pickle relish too… I found that if I finely diced cucumber, Vidalia onion, and celery -tossed it with a bit of sulfite free balsamic vinegar, let it sit for 10-15 min and then worked in the tuna and mayo it made a good substitute and upped the veggie content

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